River of Change
by mmouse15
Summary: Post 2007 movie. A new threat to all Transformers has arisen. Ironhide/Ratchet centric. Final chapter up.
1. Cataract

So, lj user moya-koordinat drew this incredible picture (link in my profile) with a plot bunny on it. It bit HARD, so here it starts.

Title: Cataract

Series: River of Change

By: mmouse15

Pairings: None yet

Rating: PG-13 (it goes up in later chapters)

Warnings: cursing

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"Optimus, you're wanted."

"I am?"

"Yeah, on Teletraan."

"Thank you, Jazz, I'll be right there." With a heavy cycling of air, Optimus Prime unfolded from his meditative position to follow his first lieutenant back to the Quonset hut where their headquarters were temporarily housed. He spared a thought to thank Primus for Ratchet's skill in putting Jazz back together after Megatron had torn him into two pieces.

As they entered the building, Optimus was surprised to see Ratchet, Ironhide, Bumblebee and Sam around the console. He stepped forward and said, "Yes…Barricade?"

Barricade looked…scared, oddly enough. "Thank you for listening, Prime." Optimus was surprised. This deference was quite out of character for the shock trooper.

"Of course. How…excuse me. For you to call me, you must need something. What can we do to assist you?" Normally, this would open the doors for a rant about the weakness of Autobots, but this time, Barricade by-passed such exchanges and got to the point.

"Starscream has created a virus that destroys Cybertronian bodes. He had hoped to infect the Autobots with it, but he…had an accident."

Ratchet shouldered Optimus aside and began to rapping out questions. "How bad an accident? Who's been infected? How quickly does the virus work? Do you have any data on the virus? May I have a copy of the code?"

Barricade held up a clawed hand to stop the flow of questions. "The virus…is deadly and fast. It has extinguished the sparks of Starscream, Skorponok, Frenzy and Thundercracker. I've isolated myself, but I have access to Starscream's console on the Nemesis from here."

Ratchet lowered his head, then cycled a heavy breath of air through his vents. "Be specific, Barricade. Why did you call us?"

"This virus was released by accident and extinguished Starscream in two Earth days. Two days, Ratchet! This isn't warfare as I understand it, it's slaughter! I'm the only Decepticon left from the Nemesis. This weapon…it's too much. I need you to…" Here, Barricade seemed to choke. "I need you to warn everyone that this virus is deadly and warn away everyone from this planet. I will provide Starscream's notes, but I want…I want to live. I'll work with you. Whatever I can do to help, as long as you help me."

Ratchet looked at Optimus, who nodded. "And if we give you our word, will that be enough?"

"Yes. You and Prime…your honour was never in doubt."

"Then you have my word that if we come up with any cure or work-around for this virus, you will also benefit."

"Good enough. Here is the data you need." An open file of data started flowing into Teletraan. Ratchet quirked an optic ridge at the screen. "What, no encryption?"

"Waste of time and energy. This virus…" Barricade shuddered. Optimus and Ironhide exchanged looks of surprise. Barricade was well known for his ruthlessness. "In fact, I have a recording of Starscream. Would that be useful?"

"Yes, it could be." Barricade nodded and another larger file streamed to Teletraan.

Ratchet nodded. "Let me look at this. I'll get back to you tomorrow. Ratchet out."

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The next day…

"Optimus, it's bad. This virus eats away the systems from the inside and leaves the shell. It seems to prefer the spark chamber. Starscream's death was relatively quick but not painless."

"Options?"

"Starscream was one of our premier scientists and he's closed any loop-holes I can think of. The virus is tenacious. It specifically targets the spark energy. I need a way to by-pass that. I'm still working on it. When does Perceptor arrive?"

Optimus answered. "In two hours."

"I'll need his expertise. Are there any more arrivals due?"

"Yes, Wheeljack, Mirage, Prowl and the twins are too close to turn back."

"We need to update Barricade."

"I'll do that."

Optimus moved to another section and keyed in Barricade's call code.

"Prime. What news?"

"At this time, Ratchet is unable to come up with a by-pass or cure. He is continuing to work the problem."

"And your Autobot ship that is two planets away? Are you sending it back?"

"No. We can't. It's too badly damaged…Barricade, I…"

"No, Prime. I will not fire the weapons of the Nemesis at them. But you MUST quarantine this planet!"

Optimus sighed. "I know. I just…"

"…are unable to deny hope to anyone? One of your greatest strengths and yet a weakness at the same time."

"Perhaps."

Barricade nodded. "Frenzy came up with an idea before he extinguished. Do you want to hear it?"

"Anything at this time." Ratchet spoke up.

"Frenzy thought that if we could transfer ourselves into organic bodies, we could stop the virus."

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Months later…

"Status report, Ratchet."

"Prime, we have two bodies ready for transfer and two volunteers."  
"Prowl."

"The Ark 19 is parked on the dark side of Earth's moon, sending out quarantine information. First alert beacons have been scattered throughout this planetary system, with a ring of secondary alert beacons in the…ah…asteroid belt."

"Ironhide."

"Stasis chambers have been constructed underground with my own security systems in place. The humans won't be able to get to our bodies without a lot of damage to them and their planet."

"Ironhide…"

"Be damned Prime. We may not harm humans, but they have no such compunctions. If they can get to our bodies and destroy them, they will. I'm simply making it so that if they play by the rules, so will we. But if they don't…"

"Prime, I must agree with Ironhide." Prowl added his support.

"I suppose Jazz helped, too?"

"Yup!" Cheerfully, Jazz agreed. "My special touches are there."

Optimus nodded. "All right. If all three of you are in agreement, let it be so. Barricade."

"The Nemesis has the bodies aboard, including the ones from the ocean and it is ready to head into the sun. The drones used to retrieve the bodies of the infected mechs were also infected and thus were left on board. This was costly in terms of resources, Prime."

"Yes, but this virus must be destroyed."

"Agreed. But if the bodies are on a ship, the ship is being sent into the sun, and there is no virus must we carry through with the body transfer?"

Ratchet spoke up. "We don't know that there is no virus."

"And are we testing that?"

Perceptor spoke up. "Yes, we are. A drone has been sent to Starscream's work area to clean up and transfer all experiments to the Nemesis. We're planning on doing a high-temperature burn in the area once it's down to bare walls just in case."

A beeping came from Teletraan. "Damn it!"

"Wheeljack?"

"That Primus forsaken virus is still active! The drone is reporting infection. It's almost to Nemesis; I'll need to keep it there. Another drone lost, damn it!" Wheeljack growled. He'd taken to Earth curse words better than anyone else.

A ripple of unease moved through the group. Optimus said "Well. That answers your concern, Barricade. We need to move forward with this attempt. Ratchet! When can we do this?"

"As soon as Barricade and Ironhide are ready, Prime."

Optimus looked at Ironhide. "You volunteered?"

"Yes. Let's just do this, Ratch."

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Two weeks later.

"Ratchet. Status report."

"Wheeljack first, sir." Ratchet nodded at a man.

"Optimus, sir. All drones have been infected but Starscream's work area is cleared. The burn appears to have succeeded, but…well, there's always the unknown factors. Nemesis will be completely destroyed in 1.5 hours."

"Thank you, Wheeljack. Ratchet?"

"Ironhide, Barricade, Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Mirage have been successfully transferred to engineered cybernetic bodies using only Earth materials. Ironhide and Barricade have successfully gone into Starscream's lab and have NOT been infected. Wheeljack, however, was infected in his Cybertronian form. We were able to freeze his body, thus stopping the virus, and transfer his…essence into a cybernetic construct. His body is in stasis and the virus appears dormant. It stopped attacking his body once his spark left to go into the cyborg. This is a confirmation of our hypothesis that spark energy is what the virus attacks. My recommendation is to transfer all known data to all open channels on Cybertron and transfer the remaining mechs to cybernetic bodies. This virus…we don't know where it is or how it's hiding, but it's still out there."

Optimus nodded. "Alright, Ratchet. Let's just do this. What order do you wish to transfer us?"

"Perceptor and I have the experience doing the transfers. He and I will be last. I'm going to do you, Jazz, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Prowl, Perceptor and finally myself. Prowl will enable the security measures, I will finalize them. We'll need to make sure the stasis chambers are secure and set for a very long time, just in case."

"Alright. Let's do it."

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A/N The idea of having a 'human' body with the essence or spark in it while the mech body is somewhere else comes from coaxialcreature's Lesser of Two Evils universe. But Dex used humans and I was searching for a way to get them into cybernetic bodies. The idea of a virus is from sakon76's wonderful story Imprint.


	2. Cascade

Title: Cascade

Series: River of Change

By: mmouse15

Pairing: IronhidexRatchet

Rating: R

Warnings: suggestions of intimacy and sex, swearing

Disclaimers: The toys don't belong to me, they belong to Hasbro, Takara, IDW and lots of other corporate entities that are not me. I'll put them back when I'm done playing…

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"Oh, come on! You can shoot better'n that!"

"These guns aren't part of me! It's harder! How do the humans DO this?"

"Same way we did, it's just more steps."

"OK, 'Hide, show me again."

"Right. Jazz, you need to visualize the target, aim, THEN fire. You can't do the half-assed shooting you're trying for, you got to practice doing it the right way. Once you're so damned good it doesn't matter, THEN you can goof off. But for now, do it right."

"Yes, sir, right away, sir!" Jazz snapped off a salute at Ironhide, who glared at him.

"Quit being a smart aft, Jazz. Bee's been practicing and he's a better shot than you are. We can't rely on our bodies to protect us anymore. We're vulnerable now."

Jazz grumbled, but turned back to the target, muttering as he did, "Yeah, but nobody spends as much time down here as you do."

"True, and nobody's as good as I am, either."

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Later, Jazz and Ironhide were heading back to the base. The cybernetic humans had been given a building of their own, tucked away in an area by itself on a base in BFE, western USA. Fortunately, Will Lennox's team had been tapped to liaise with the Autobots and the relationship had continued even after the Autobots had transferred their selves into cyborgs.

Jazz and Ironhide entered the main room to gales of laughter. Jazz quickly joined the group, asking "What'd I miss?"

Sam grinned evilly. "Ah, Jazz. We're trying to teach Bee the fine and manly art of…belching."

"Belching? What's that?"

More laughter. Rob Epps clapped Jazz on the back and handed him a can. "Here, Jazz, pop that open and slug it down."

"Mountain Dew? What is this stuff?"

Sam yelped and dashed forward, yanking the can out of Jazz's hand. "Damn it, Rob! What are you thinking? No overly caffeinated drinks for the hyper bots or Ratchet will have your 'nads for dinner!"

"Well then, how the hell is Jazz supposed to find out what a belch is?"

Sam grinned as he popped the can open. "Well, Rob, you show 'em." Sam tilted his head back and drained the can in one go. He crushed the can, tossed it toward the recycle bin, the let loose a loud, sustained belch, which he varied the pitch of by changing his embouchure. Applause greeted his efforts, along with shouts of 'Good one, Sam!', much to Jazz's amusement.

"So is the whole thing a belch, or just the noise?"

"Just the noise, man, but Sam's a master."

Jazz hm'd thoughtfully. "So is the liquid necessary?"

Sam laughed. "No. My dad just swallows air and can pretty much belch on command. I'm not that good, I need a carbonated drink to get going."

"Ah." Jazz leaned back on his heels, took a few deep breaths, then let loose a loud belch. The room dissolved in laughter and whistles as the group applauded his efforts.

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Ironhide walked down the hall to the medbay. He peeked around the door, then grinned at the sight. Perceptor had evidently fallen first, because he had the cot in the corner. Wheeljack was rolled into blankets on one of the beds in the room, while Ratchet was hunched over a microscope, muttering to himself. Ironhide quietly walked into the room, heading for their CMO. Just behind him, 'Hide whispered "Ratchet."

Ratchet jerked his head up, then glanced over his shoulder. "Oh. 'Hide. Are you injured? I had no idea how fragile these bodies were. Why anyone would…"He stopped talking, Ironhide's hand preventing him from speaking.

"Ratch, you've been up for over a day. You need to get some sleep."

"Ah, yes. When I'm finished…"

"No, Ratchet, now. You're tired. Tired people make mistakes. We've got human bodies now; we can't drive ourselves to stasis lock and expect to bounce back after a recharge cycle. You can't do this."

Ratchet set his mouth in what Ironhide had dubbed his 'sorry aft stubborn look' and turned back to the microscope. "I just need to…"

Ironhide grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around. "What does it take to get through that thick head of yours? Ratchet, you need to take care of yourself!"

A quiet voice interrupted them. "I can take over here, Ratchet. Ironhide's right. We need you working at your best and that does mean respecting the limitations of these new forms." Perceptor quietly moved forward to look over Ratchet's notes. The CMO glared both of them, then muttered, "Fine. I'll take the cot."

"No. You'll only sleep for an hour or so. You need more. Ironhide, would you please escort him to his room and see that he stays there for an entire recharge cycle?"

Ratchet was sputtering in outrage as Ironhide lifted a brow and asked, "How long is a human recharge cycle?"

"Anywhere from seven to eleven hours. I think eight is the minimum recommended for most people, but to be safe, he should sleep until he wakes up."

"Gotcha, Perc. Later." And with that parting comment, Ironhide deftly scooped Ratchet over his shoulders in a fireman's lift and left the medbay, heading to Ratchet's room. Ratchet was muttering obscenities and threatening Ironhide with painful retribution.''

'Hide moved into Ratchet's room, closed the door with his foot, then lowered the fuming CMO to his feet.

"Damnation, Ironhide! I am not some sparkling incapable of falling into recharge! I do not think…"

"Yeah, Ratch, ya don't think. Shut it, go to bed."

"No. I'm in the middle of…"

Ironhide lost his patience. He grabbed Ratchet by the shoulders and pushed him against the door. "I know that you want to get us back into our bodies as much as we want to be back. I know that you want to find a cure or at least a vaccine against this virus. I know that, Ratchet, but I'm not going to let you kill yourself with overwork! You're part of a team! Let Perceptor and Wheeljack contribute. Trust them. Be smart. Take care of yourself."

"Damn it, 'Hide! I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions about when I recharge!"

Ironhide growled deep in his throat. Ratchet was infamous for his inability to stop and let himself recharge when he was working a problem. Ironhide was going to have to try a different tactic.

Ratchet's justifications and muttering abruptly ceased. His lips were suddenly occupied with Ironhide's, whose mouth had covered his in a deep kiss. Ironhide changed the tilt of his head and discovered that he could taste more of Ratchet. Dropping his hands from Ratchet's shoulders, he wrapped them around the other man's body, pulling them together. Ratchet's arms slid around Ironhide's shoulders, then one hand slid into the thick black hair and clutched the back of his head.

Ironhide pulled back, then nibbled at Ratchet's jaw line, tonguing the stubble and tasting Ratchet. He groaned, sliding one hand to the CMO's rear and pulling their groins together. Ratchet's breath left in a needy whimper, "Ironhide…ah, Primus! What are you doing?"

Ironhide chuckled. "It's called sex, Ratchet. I'm using it to distract you."

Ratchet jerked back, breaking the connection between them. "What?! I…you…"

The weapons specialist followed him, pressing his body over Ratchet's and pushing him against the door. "I was a Primus damned fool. I love you. I have for vorns. I should have bonded myself to you so that you'd know how much you mean to me. It kills me to see you hurt yourself this way. Let me…Ratchet, let me take care of you. Please…let me…" Ironhide nuzzled Ratchet's neck and jaw, muttering all the while, "…let me…please, Ratch…you taste so good…um…", finally arriving at Ratchet's mouth and sealing their lips together in a kiss.

Ratchet groaned, then slumped against the door, clutching Ironhide to himself. "Why…ah…why didn't you tell me this before?"

Ironhide chuckled, leaning against Ratchet and slowly grinding their hips together. "I was afraid. Afraid you'd say no, afraid that it would change the team. I figured I'd wait until the war was over."

Ratchet growled at him, "Damned fool. I love you, too."

And no more words were needed for a very long time…

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"Wheeljack?"

"Yes, Ratchet?" Wheeljack turned on the stool to face his friend.

"Do you think it's possible to still bond in these bodies?"

Wheeljack raised his eyebrows, then grinned. "Did he finally, ah, 'jump your bones' I believe is the term?"

Ratchet gave him an abashed grin. "Primus, yes. Was it that obvious?"

"Only to everyone else."

Ratchet dropped into a chair and buried his face in his hands. He groaned, then ground out, "How could I have been so stupid?"

Wheeljack patted his friend on the back. "Not stupid, Ratch. Oblivious. And I think you didn't want to see. How much sleep did you get?"

Ratchet glared at him. "Twelve hours. And a shower. And breakfast, before he'd even let me come in here."

"Good for him!"

"Good for whom?" Perceptor stood in the doorway, several notebooks and a box of slides in his hands.

Wheeljack turned and moved to help him. "Ironhide. He seduced Ratchet, got him to sleep around the clock, bathed him and fed him."

Perceptor blinked, then glanced at Ratchet. "Well. It's about time."

Ratchet growled at him, but admitted that he did feel much better. Wheeljack, laughing, went back to his notes after depositing the slides near the microscope. "Still, I don't know the answer to your question, Ratchet."

"What question?"

Ratchet moved as if to cut him off, but Wheeljack cheerfully talked over him.

"Ratchet wondered if we could still bond in these bodies."

"Of course."

Both cyborgs stopped and looked at Perceptor. He looked back at them, then continued, "We moved our sparks into these bodies. It's more difficult, but it is do-able. These bodies are constructs. They may look human, but they will last longer, much longer than a human. And they have modifications. One is an organic spark chamber, located near the heart."

Ratchet glanced at Wheeljack, then back to Perceptor. "Alright. Say I want to bond with Ironhide. How do I go about accomplishing this?"

"Well, you need to…"

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Later...

"'Hide."

"Hm? You're supposed to be sleeping, Ratch."

Ratchet moved, crawling over his lover and settling his chin on his hands, which were on Ironhide's chest.

"'Hide. I love you. Will you…will you bond with me?"

Ironhide looked up into his beloved's face, two tears welling out the corners of his eyes. Hoarsely, he whispered, "Can we?"

"Yes."

"I would like nothing better than to belong to you. Always, Ratchet, always and forever."


	3. Rapids

Title: Rapids

Series: River of Change

By: mmouse15

Pairing: IronhidexRatchet

Rating: R

Warnings: swearing, violence, character death

Disclaimers: What's the standard? They don't belong to me? Well, they don't. I'm just playing with them. I'll give them back when I'm done messing with them.

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"Hey, Will! Wait up!"

Will Lennox slowed his steps, waiting for Sam Witwicky to catch up. "Sam. What's up?"

Sam looked abashed, but visibly gathered his courage and asked, "Will, off the record, what the hell's going on?"

Lennox shot him a piercing glance, then looked around. Seeing no one else in their vicinity, he responded, "Shit. I was hoping…well, it's not to be. Listen, Sam, you need to tell the bots this, but it can't come back to me, got it?"

"Got it."

"The CIC has decided that cyborgs are a violation of God's rule, and he wants to disband the entire unit, get rid of the whole shebang. Pretend it never happened. Get the government as far away from the Autobots as he possibly can."

Sam looked at him. "What?!"

"Our beloved President is controlled by his faith."

"To the point of not thinking? The Decepticons didn't go away!"

"I know, Sam. I'll never forget Skorponok coming out of the sand after my men. But my CIC has never faced a 'Con. He doesn't really believe in them, and he can do that easily because the Autobots are hiding in human bodies. He's never faced a huge fucking robot that doesn't give a shit about your life and whether you live or die."

"Will, man, we've had contact from the Autobot forces on Cybertron. Ultra Magnus says that a 'Con named Shockwave seems to be gathering his forces. Bluestreak thinks Shockwave is coming to Earth."

It was Will's turn to stop in his tracks. "Damn. Are you sure?"

"No, but Prowl says it's a logical assumption."

"What about the virus?"

"Ratchet and Perceptor have made a break-through, says Wheeljack."

"Where are they?"

"Do you remember that Wheeljack's Cybertronian body is infected?"

"Yes."

"So, they're taking this possible vaccination to try and cure him."

"Built in test subject?"

"Volunteered." Sam said.

"Hm. And if it doesn't work?"

"I don't know."

Will nodded. "Look, Sam, keep me updated, and I'll do the same. Optimus is in DC, trying to make sure that at the very least, the bots don't get cut off from their bodies."

Sam looked over. "They wouldn't do that, would they?"

Will shrugged. "I don't know. But would you want to gamble on it if you were Optimus?"

"No."

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Later, Sam walked into the cyborg's rec. room. Bumblebee looked at him. Sam shook his head.

"How bad, Sam?"

"I'm not sure how it could get worse…"

Sunstreaker glanced at his brother, then at Bee. "Well, Prowl could come in here and tell us that Shockwave's already on Earth."

"No, but we think he'll be here within the week." Prowl entered the room behind Sam.

"WHAT?"

"I've been conferring with Kup and Ultra Magnus. Based on Shockwave's past actions and what he's currently doing, we can expect him on Earth in a few days."

Sunstreaker stepped forward. "OK, what can we do to prepare?"

"Especially since the whole unit might be cut loose." Sam stated.

Prowl looked at him and Sam nodded. "Get everyone in the conference room. We need a strategy session."

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"Given the political situation on Earth, we need to be careful how we present this information, is that correct?"

"Yes, Prowl, it is."

"I suspect that whatever happens, the President will be fine with our fighting as long as it doesn't happen on US soil." Sam interjected this with a note of bitterness in his voice. They cyborgs looked around at each other, then back at Sam. He held up a hand. "Look. We're all exhausted. We've been at this for hours and have no conclusions. If Shockwave were truly smart, he'd stay away from this backwater planet and consolidate his hold on Cybertron. After all, he's got no real competition because, quite frankly, the best fighting force is stranded here. The virus renders all of you unable to compete with him. I he comes here, he runs the very real risk of getting infected and for no measurable gain, correct?"

Agreement from everyone present, so Sam continued, "Thus the only conclusion that I can reach is that he's insane, or the Cybertronian equivalent, which Bee tells me is 'overclocked, glitched, malfunctioning cross-connected processor.' And you can't plan for crazy people. So we rest up, make sure our weapons are in perfect condition, and be ready to go anywhere in the world at a moment's notice. Right?"

Prowl finally nodded. "Yes. As much as I hate agreeing, I can find no fault with your analysis."

Sam grinned at him. "I've learned, Prowl, that tactics are easier to do when you have information, not speculation." Everyone laughed and the meeting disbanded.

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Ironhide woke screaming.

As footsteps pounded down hallways to his quarters, he rolled off the bunk in blind agony.

"'Hide, what's wrong?" Hands on his shoulders, unable to check him for damage because he was curled into a tight ball, unable to straighten his limbs.

"What's going on?"

"Don't know, man!"

"Can we move him?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Is a medic coming?" Sudden silence at Mirage's question, then Optimus pushed forward and laid his hand, then his forehead on Ironhide's back. "Ironhide? How badly is Ratchet hurt?"

Silence for too long, then, "He's dead."

"Oh, my god." Sam voiced everyone's shock at the news.

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"So Shockwave attacked at the only Cybertronian energy signature he could find, which happened to be Wheeljack because they were injecting new code into his processor to see if it would stop this Primus forsaken virus."

"Yes, Prime."

Optimus sighed. "What the situation, Prowl?"

Prowl looked as if he wished he were anywhere else at this moment. "Wheeljack managed to shoot Shockwave and make him retreat, but Ratchet got caught in the crossfire." Everyone looked briefly at Ironhide, who looked as if he were carved from stone. Prowl forged on, "Wheeljack and Perceptor managed to put Wheeljack's body back into stasis and transfer his spark back into his cybernetic body again, then shut the whole place down. They should be back in about four hours."  
"Right. Now what?"

Jazz spoke up. "Mirage and I have come up with a nifty little projector that broadcasts on Cybertronian frequencies. We can use it to lure Shockwave to a battlefield of our choosing."

Prime nodded. "And…Ironhide?"

Ironhide moved then. "If you think you can leave me behind, you're mistaken."

"But…"

"No. I'll take him on by myself if you try."

Prime assessed him, then nodded. "All right. Where shall we face him?"

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Sam screamed. He hated to think he was wimpy enough to scream, but scream he did. This guy Shockwave was scary! Optimus had not chosen the battlefield – the Decepticon forces had attacked before he could, which is why Sam was here. They hadn't had the time to get him to safety before they were attacked by Shockwave.

Lennox reached out and grabbed Sam, pushing him behind the barn his small force was using as a temporary hiding place. Temporary, because everyone at this point knew that Shockwave would manage to blow the building to pieces.

"Damn it, Lennox, he can FLY! As a gun!"

"I know that Sam! You got any better ideas?" Lennox yelled.

"You're asking me? I'm the civilian here! I haven't got any ideas!" Sam was breathing too hard. The fear was overwhelming.

"Shit! Epps! Where the hell is our air support?" The team leader yelled to his second.

The Air Force combat controller hollered back "On their way! 30 seconds out!"

"OK, people, here's what we're going to do. Move to the west, Epps, drop smoke, make for that draw over there. It'll provide cover while we try to get back to the trucks."

The team moved out. Sam marveled at the quick and easy movement of the team. Say what you would about the government but they knew how to train a military force and he was getting to see that training in action. The group moved quickly by twos and threes to the draw, which was a dry creek bed at this time of year. However, the water over eons had cut a fairly deep channel through the flat lands which provided hillocks that gave the team cover from the Decepticon forces. Epps, Lennox and Jazz were the last group to drop into the draw. Epps popped smoke back towards the barn, and as expected, Shockwave immediately targeted the building. It blew up in a spectacular array of wood and metal, but by that time the team was moving up the draw away from the building. Epps was on the radio, vectoring the fighter planes in to the burning building and Shockwave.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

About ten miles north of their position, Ironhide was readying his team to attack. Warfare was where the real nature of the cybernetic bodies they had came to light. He had antenna covering his ears and radiating backwards, which allowed instantaneous communication with his fellow Autobots, a blue set of goggle-like eye coverings which were his HUDs and allowed him to see in multiple spectra, special boot-like coverings over his lower legs and feet which enabled him to move much faster than a human, and as his team had discovered, a healing ability that was quickly repairing the small burns and contusions on his body.

"All right, people, let's remember that Shockwave also carries a small nuclear reactor in his chest. So taking him out the way we took the 'Cons out in Mission City by shooting him in the chest is a VERY BAD idea, got it?"

"Yes, sir." Came from the team.

Ironhide continued. "However, Shockwave's greatest weakness has always been fuel consumption. So the plan is to keep harassing him, keep him moving around and make him do the work. Understand?"

Murmurs of assent reached his audios, and he waved the team forward. This group was armed with 50 caliber machine guns and 40 mm grenade launchers loaded with sabot rounds. They got into their 

HMMWVs and moved to attack positions much closer to Lennox's position. Optimus, after consulting with Prowl, had chosen to make a large number of small groups, each with an Autobot coordinator, to simply harass Shockwave while the US military used gunships to shoot large caliber rounds that were their only hope of actually damaging Shockwave. It was, as Jazz had pointed out, a pretty weak defense.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl was monitoring the battle from a mobile unit somewhere in the mostly empty spaces of the great American plains. He was frustrated and had finally worked his way, logically, to the source of his frustration. This entire episode did not make any sense. Shockwave was a being of supreme and pure logic and his actions did not fit into a logical framework. So there must be something more going on. He had finally mentioned this to Optimus, and they were currently working through a glimmer of an idea. Prowl was actually grateful to be mostly human right now, as he felt certain that this exercise would have locked his logic centers. Their battle plan was mostly working, the harassing of Shockwave was keeping him moving, but now it appeared that another Decepticon force was landing and they were going to have to change tactics.

"Any idea who is landing?" Optimus spoke, his HUDs flickering rapidly as he checked on the various teams.

"Astrotrain is one of the signatures. The remainder appear to be drones."

"What's the situation with Shockwave?"

"His drones have, for the most part, been disabled or nullified." Prowl reported. "It's just him, and the teams are doing a very good job of keeping him on the move. His energy signature is reading 46 and has continued to fall."  
"Excellent. Have you come up with any reason for Shockwave's behavior?" Optimus brought the conversation back to the most pressing strategic necessity. If they could figure out why Shockwave had come to Earth when he had almost complete control over Cybertron, they stood a better chance of combating him. Or at least, that was the logic stream they were following.

"There must have been communication between Starscream and Shockwave. The best I can come up with is Starscream must have told Shockwave that Megatron was dead, but that Earth had the resources to bolster Cybertron's forces. It doesn't make complete sense, because there are planets between here and Cybertron that are also rich in resources and have the advantage of not having a force of Autobots in residence."

Optimus shook his head and paced about the small room. "It hinges upon Megatron. Shockwave has to be here to retrieve his shell and…what? Why would Megatron's shell affect Shockwave?"

"Perhaps he hopes to bring him back? Or perhaps…yes…he doesn't trust Starscream's assessment of Megatron's demise and wants to check on Megatron's status himself? That would actually be logical." Prowl, too was pacing within the confines of the command vehicle. He did give a passing thought to the oddity of needing to pace – another quirk of the human form they currently found themselves within.

A radio burst over the Autobot frequency had both cyborgs back at the console. The databurst was from Wheeljack and showed that Shockwave was showing the energy fluctuations of the virus and also that he was starting to run through his energy at a much higher rate. Current readings were 32 and falling rapidly.

"If we can nullify Shockwave…" started Prowl.

"Before Astrotrain lands…" continued Optimus.

"We'll only have to fight one threat at a time." finished Prowl. He activated his communications links and databurst the plan to all teams. Optimus clapped him on the shoulder and exited the command vehicle to rejoin his team.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Wheeljack stared at the scanner in his hand in horror. The energy readings were fluctuating wildly as Shockwave's systems tried to compensate for the virus now ravaging his systems. If this is what Ratchet had saved him from, he was deeply grateful to his friend. He gave a passing thought to his friend and how Ratchet would have hated to see anybody hurt in this manner, even a Decepticon. Wheeljack was a little more ruthless than Ratchet and thought that Shockwave dying because he was too arrogant to heed the warnings was a fine example of a fitting end. Or at least in theory it would be. Actually watching Shockwave die was…horrifying. The purple gun collapsed to the ground and slowly transformed into his mechanoid form. Wheeljack took a deep breath and moved closer. Shockwave's single optic glared at him as he moved toward the Decepticon strategist.

"What do you want, fleshling?"

Wheeljack hummed cheerfully. "Not a Primus blessed thing except to make sure your Spark is fully extinguished before we send your shell into old Sol."

Shockwave absorbed this statement, then announced in a flat tone. "You are an Autobot."

"Yup."

"Why?"

"Why in itself is not a very clear question. Why what? Why am I in a human body? Why are we fighting you? Why did we put a warning on this planetary system? Which 'why' are you after?" Wheeljack was actually enjoying teasing the Decepticon.

Shockwave's optic dimmed, then brightened again as he gathered his energy reserves. "What is this virus, and why did you oppose me? It is not logical…"

"Ah. This virus is a brilliant weapon created by your top scientist. Remember him? Starscream? Created this virus as a weapon against the Autobots, but…damned fool, he let it get out and it killed most of the Decepticon forces within seven planetary rotations. As to why we opposed you, the reasons haven't changed since Cybertron. Sentient beings have the right to choose their destiny, not have it dictated to them by a stronger force. It is the sign of an advanced civilization that they allow weaker cultures to thrive rather than exploiting them. We will always oppose your attempted conquests."

Shockwave growled at him. "It is not logical to oppose a force that is so much greater and will eventually succeed. It is better to…"

"Simply give in? Never going to happen, Decepticon." Wheeljack risked a quick look at the scanner. Energy levels of 6, and wild fluctuations of Spark energy. Shockwave was not long for this plane of existence.

The Decepticon strategist suddenly arched backward, screaming hoarsely as wild energy suddenly flared from what 'Jack supposed was his Spark. The energy was not the normal blue, or even more uncommon gold, but a sickly greenish purple color. 'Jack stepped back behind a low rise. It was one thing to blow 

oneself up when one was made of armored metal, but quite another to take a possible explosion in these fragile flesh bodies. He crouched down as the energy reached a peak, then quickly died down. Cautiously, he peeked over the ridge of dirt. Shockwave was now a grey color, and the scanner noted no energy other than a residual from the nuclear reactor in Shockwave's chest. He radioed Prowl, letting him know what had happened, then moved to the fallen Decepticon and left a GPS beacon. He then left to meet up with a new team.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Astrotrain, Bumblebee decided, was damned near impossible to fight. He had brought his ionic displacer rifle with him, and it was disrupting their communications lines, especially the human frequencies. The cyborgs were able to change frequencies fast enough to work around the problem, and Bumblebee once again was grateful that Prowl had decided an Autobot per team was a good idea. So far, having the ability to continue communications was the only thing saving them from a sudden and savage death at the hands of the savage triple-changer. Suddenly, a databurst on all frequencies caught his attention and, to his surprise, the attention of Astrotrain. The burst was from Wheeljack and showed Shockwave's permanent off-lining. There was a momentary pause in the battle, then Astrotrain roared and began firing again.

"Shit!" yelled Bumblebee's leader, a very competent Ranger named Thompson. "Damn it! Move left!"

"Oh, this is bad." Bumblebee growled to himself. He accessed his comm. lines, "Prowl."

"Yes, Bumblebee." Came the response from the tactician.

"Whatever 'Jack just sent him pissed him off."

"Thank you, Bumblebee."

Thompson looked over at Bee with a raised eyebrow. "What was that about?"

The scout helpfully explained. "Astrotrain isn't the sharpest crayon in the box. He'll follow a leader, but when his leadership is gone, he…kind of loses momentum, if you get my drift. Except when he goes into a berserker rage, which it appears he's just done."

"Oh. Damn." Thompson looked back over the barricaded fenceline they were using as a shelter. "So now what?"

"Now we need the twins."

"Why?" The Ranger was genuinely curious.

Bumblebee grinned at him. "Because they have a weapon to use against him, and they're on their way. They've gotta grab Wheeljack. They'll be here in 10 minutes or so."

"Great. So we just have to hold this big bastard off for 10 minutes and not die in the process?"

"We've got help." Bumblebee risked a look and came back down nodding. "Yup. Optimus is here."

The two teams began to work in tandem, pulling Astrotrain's attention back and forth between them. They were soon joined by Lennox's team, which helped significantly. It was still brutal work, and Astrotrain was starting to adapt to the smaller sized humans. Before, he had been looking for, and shooting for, large targets, which meant that vehicles were difficult to come by. But the huge Decepticon had finally realized that the threat was small, fast, and deadly. The 40mm sabot rounds were having an effect on him, and he was starting to retreat when a M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS) vehicle came screaming across the fields toward the huge Decepticon.

Bumblebee whooped, "They're here!"

Thompson risked a look, "What the hell?"

Bee grinned at him. "Wheeljack's modified the sabot rounds for the main gun to have extra punch, which we'll need to get through his armor. Should do the job."

"But what about the nuclear reactor?" Thompson blanched in fear.

"No, no, that's the other one. This one just has a Spark, no reactor, and he can be killed this way."

Astrotrain had finally recognized that the fast moving vehicle was actually a threat to him and was turning to face it when the first round went off. The shell impacted in his left shoulder and literally blew off his arm. He roared and brought his rifle up to fire on the MGS, which was nimbly moving around on the battlefield. Astrotrain fired and missed, while the MGS fired its main gun again and impacted on Astrotrain's right leg.

Bumblebee whooped again, "It must be Sunny on the main gun. Damn, he's good!"

Thompson looked at him. "How the hell can you tell?"

The scout grinned, "Sunny, when he's focused, doesn't miss. Sides goofs off too much, but Sunny – he's a war machine when he gets going. And 'Jack? He's not so good on the shooting, but really good on the blowing things up."

"Okay."

They both looked back over the shelter, then slowly stood up. Astrotrain by this point was down and lacking both legs. Whichever Autobot was shooting was not, however, in any mood to be nice. As long as Astrotrain fired back, the MGS was returning his fire with its own, and the marksman running the cannon was not missing. Astrotrain finally got a hit on the Stryker, sending pulses of energy running all over the vehicle. To Bumblebee's surprise, the main cannon fired once more, a direct hit to the center of Astrotrain's chest that seemed to explode out Astrotrain's front and back at the same time. Bee had expected the MGS to be completely incapacitated by the shot, but was very happy that he had been wrong.

Wheeljack, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe came spilling out of the vehicle, coughing, while a cloud of electrical smoke came out with them. Sides and Sunny were laughing and clapping Wheeljack on the back.

The teams all moved toward each other, eying the huge triple-changer. Wheeljack moved to check on the status of his Spark, and everyone cheered when he reassured them that the Spark chamber was completely shattered.

Sunstreaker was laughing at Sideswipe, teasing him that his horrible driving had actually saved their lives since Astrotrain couldn't hit something that didn't behave in a reasonable manner, and if there was anything reasonable about Sides' driving Sunny couldn't figure out what it was. There was a note of hysteria to the laughter than arose at Sunny's remark, but everyone was glad this battle was finally done.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam looked around at all the destruction. It covered parts of at least three states, but they had finally won. He shuddered at the sight of Shockwave, who was the scariest mech Sam had ever seen. Scarier than Megatron, Shockwave with his one eye, purple body, and complete disregard for any life other 

than his own had scared Sam spitless. Shockwave had fought furiously even as the virus ravaged his systems. Astrotrain, his lieutenant, was also dead, killed by the twins and Wheeljack; Sam had never met a triple changer before. Bee told him they were the craziest mechs in the Decepticon forces and be glad it was just Astrotrain, who was a bully but not psychotic like Blitzwing, whom Shockwave had left behind on Cybertron.

Jazz came up behind Sam. "Let's go, Sam. The twins'll mop up here, and Prime wants you."

Sam nodded, then turned to go. A Humvee pulled up, and Ironhide's voice rang out, "Let's go, you two!"

Sam and Jazz crawled into the transport. Sam looked at 'Hide, then at Jazz, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Knock it off. I'm fine." Ironhide growled.

"Well, yeah, but why are you fine?" Sam queried.

"I don't know."


	4. Plunge

Title: Plunge

Series: River of Change

By: mmouse15

Pairing: IronhidexRatchet

Rating: R

Warnings: swearing

Wheeljack came out of the supply depot to deposit his load of materials into the Humvee. His attention was caught by a group of soldiers watching Ironhide move through a series of katas. Ironhide had told him that the katas taught to him by Jazz soothed his mind and helped him focus. The only other activity that helped him, Wheeljack had noted, was long drives night. 'Jack had gone on a couple of trips with 'Hide and they had not spoken, they had just driven all night long. Later, Ironhide had told him that driving in the desert felt right somehow, as if Ratchet were still there with him.

"Is that a new guy?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"He one of the aliens?"

"Yeah."

"What's his designation?"

"Pfeh. Fucked if I know."

"Dude, he just moved."

"Yeah, well."

"I think he's the one called Ironhide."

"Ironhide? Hey maybe that's the guy."

"Which guy? What'd he do? C'mon, spill."

"He's the one that was…uh…what's it called again? Oh, yeah, BONDED."

"Bonded?"

"Yeah, he was bonded with a medic, I heard."

"Yeah? So where's the medic?"

"Yeah, I thought they didn't go no where without their bonded."

"God only knows. Heard he died."

The group fell silent, then "Shit."

Another spoke up. "Fuck. Man, that's gotta suck."

Wheeljack muttered, "…you're telling me…" as he moved back to finish loading his supplies. He carried the final box out, then called, "'Hide! Let's go!"

Ironhide gracefully closed his pose, then scooped up his shirt and jogged over to the Humvee. He sank into the driver's seat with a sigh.

"Hell, 'Jack, why didn't you say something? I'd've helped you load up."

"Thanks, 'Hide. I knew you would, but I had help and you seemed…peaceful."

Ironhide shook his head. "No. Peace is…I feel…shit, 'Jack! I just don't feel like he's gone! If I could, maybe I could find some peace, at least until we get back to ourselves. This…" He scrubbed a hand over his face. "'Jack, have you ever heard of anyone surviving their bonded's death?"

Wheeljack shifted in his seat. "Well, yes, but not since the war started. I mean, a violent death always seems to drag the other bonded partner with the one killed. Before the war, when a mech or femme off-lined, death could be gentle and didn't necessarily take the partner."

Ironhide cocked a brow at Wheeljack. "Ratchet got blown to pieces by Shockwave. It doesn't get much more violent, 'Jack. But I'm still alive. Hell, I even function."

"Sorta. And you cuss, too."

"Fuck off."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Later, Wheeljack approached Perceptor. The scientist and engineer had continued to work on the anti-viral program and had made a great deal of progress. The progression of the virus in Wheeljack's Cybertronian body had been halted, and it appeared that their latest upgrade might reverse the damage. Now Wheeljack was approaching Perceptor with a new question.

"Perc?"

"Hm? Oh, Wheeljack! Right on time. Excellent. Shall we start?"

"No, not yet. Perc, Ironhide mentioned something today that's got me thinking."

"Really?" Perceptor laid down his pen, closed his notebook, and gave Wheeljack his attention. It was a courtesy that Wheeljack appreciated. "Well, what is it?"

Wheeljack fidgeted, then blurted, "He doesn't feel like Ratchet's gone. I had been assuming that Ironhide wasn't reacting the normal way to Ratchet's death because we're in cybernetic bodies and that blunts the bond. But, what if…what if Ratchet isn't dead?"

Perceptor stared at him in amazed silence for a long space of time. Wheeljack fidgeted under Perceptor's stare. "Perc?"

"If…" Perceptor's breath stuttered out, "If it's true, Wheeljack, then how do we find him?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Ironhide, after dropping Wheeljack and his supplies off, headed for the cyborg's building. Jack and Percy's lab had been relocated to an area near the firing range, away from all other buildings after Wheeljack had blown up their previous lab and the three buildings surrounding it. Prime had refused to discipline Jack, shrugging it off to the base commander as 'Wheeljack is just like that and has been for millions of years.' The new lab had been constructed in less than a month.

Parking near the window to his quarters, Ironhide walked around the building and entered in the front door. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were waiting for him.

"Ready, 'Hide?"

"Ready to kick yer butts, ya brats."

"Ha!"

The good natured snipping went back and forth. The twins did their best to distract him, and he appreciated their efforts. Of all the cybernetically enhanced aliens-within-human-bodies, only the twins and Prowl seemed to appreciated how deeply affected Ironhide had been by Ratchet's death. The twins because they shared a spark between them, which was a rare kind of bond, and Prowl because he'd 

researched bonds as part of his tactical analysis when he'd joined the Autobot cause. Or at least, that's what Ironhide assumed. If Prowl were bonded, he'd kept it a closely guarded secret.

The physical sparring with the twins left them all sweating, tired, and quiet. As they headed to the locker room and showers, Jazz passed them.

"'Hide?"

"Yeah, Jazz?"

"Need to talk to you. Look me up?"

"Sure."

Ducking his head under the cool sprat, Ironhide wondered what Jazz wanted to talk about, then dismissed it. He'd find out soon enough.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"'Kay, Jazz, let's go."

Jazz had been leaning over the back to the chair Bumblebee was nominally sitting in as he and Sam were learning a new video game. "Sure, 'Hide. Lemme grab a jacket."

Ironhide quirked a brow, then looked outside. It was an hour before the sun set, which did drop the temperature dramatically. The joys of living in a desert environment. "Are we going to be gone that long?"

"Maybe."

'Hide shrugged and grabbed his own battered jacket. As they headed out, Barricade fell into step beside them. The three cyborgs walked for many long minutes, not talking, then Jazz, finally broke the silence.

"'Hide, how are you doing?"

Ironhide rolled his shoulders, then hunched them. "I sleep, I eat, I train, I go back to sleep and do it all over again. I'm…surviving, Jazz."

"No, there's more to it than that."

"Says who?"

"Says me." Interjected Barricade. "I was the enemy, so I watch more than I talk. I've noticed. You're quiet, but there's something bugging you, something that distracts you. It's like…your body is here, going through the motions and your head is somewhere else. Not here, not with your body."

The cyborgs walked in silence for a distance, then Ironhide spoke up. "I felt it when he got shot. It felt like…hell, like everything inside got ripped out. I wanted to die. Then we had a fight against Shockwave, and I threw myself into it, but the 'Cons still can't hit the broad side of a barn and I didn't get hurt, so I keep going on, helping Prowl and Prime, and I realize…I don't have the hole I'm expecting. It's like Ratchet's still alive, but he can't talk. I still feel him, but it's faint. So I'm wondering if it's these bodies and I'll actually miss him when we're back to ourselves, or if I'll feel him better, or if he'll just fade away from me."

"What do Jack and Percy say?"

Ironhide snorted. "Perc is…well, I don't feel like I can talk to him. Ya know if he can't measure it, then it must not be real. Jack treats me like I'm going to break. Hell, I don't know. I think they want to believe, but there's no precedent. They don't know."

Barricade stopped, looking at the sunset. "Of course, you've thought about him not being dead. Can they test for that?"

"What?"

Barricade looked at him. "We're sparks. It's who we are, regardless of our physical form. We've already shown that sparks can move from one body into another. What if Ratchet put his spark into another body before the human one died?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The three men excitedly burst through the door of the lab, all talking at once.

"Jack, Perc, what if…"

"We want to test for this…"

"What was around you at the time when Shockwave showed up?"

Wheeljack and Perceptor jerked from their tasks by the intrusion, seemed baffled. Wheeljack caught on quicker that Perceptor, and held up his hand to top the flow of questions.

"Whoa! One at a time, please!"

By some unspoken assent, Ironhide went first. "What if Ratchet transferred himself to another form before Shockwave shot him?"

Jack and Percy glanced at each other, then beamed wide smiles. Perceptor spoke. "We thought of that, too, after your conversation with Wheeljack this morning. We've spent the day creating this detector." He motioned to the handheld machine on the bench before them. "This detector registers Cybertronian spark energy."

Jazz whooped, "Let's get started!"

Perceptor, acting quite startled that something he was working on was of interest to other beings, moved away from the machine slightly. Wheeljack grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "Gentlemechs, Percy here is the expert in this subject matter now, so I'm going to let him explain. Perceptor?"

Perceptor cleared his throat. "Well, as you probably know, Ratchet was the real expert in this, and that's why we agree that there is a chance that Ratchet was able to transfer his Spark to a machine, or another life form. Does this tie in with what you were thinking?"

Jazz and Barricade exchanged a look, then Jazz spoke "Yes, but it sounds like you've gone beyond thinking it might be possible to believing that it's a good enough probability to build something."

"That is Wheeljack's work, and yes, given Ratchet's deep understanding of Sparks and spark energy and the fact that very recently he was just moving everyone's Sparks to new bodies, I believe that the probability of Ratchet quickly analyzing the situation and proactively moving his Spark is a very real outcome. He did push me out of the way or Shockwave's blast would have gotten us both."

"Didn't know that, Perc." Jazz again, now dancing on the balls of his feet. "That says something about Ratchet."  
"Yes, that he still won't let others take the fall when he thinks he can prevent it." Ironhide now put in his opinion. Wheeljack just laughed and nodded; he and Ironhide understood Ratchet's personality best and Ironhide had put his finger on a fundamental quirk of Ratchet's.

"So, now what?" Barricade asked.

Jazz answered, quicker to pick up on the situation, "Now, if the machine works, we head over to the storage depot and start testing for Spark energy."

Ironhide brought up one sticky point "What if he transferred his Spark to a living creature? A robbit or something?"

"Rabbit, 'Hide. And if he did, Ratchet's smart enough to stick close and we'll be able to find him. We've put a wand on the detector so we can move it around and triangulate a position if necessary." Wheeljack explained.

"Good. Let's go." Ironhide moved to the door.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

In the rec room, the rest of the team was quickly brought up to speed. Will Lennox looked as if he didn't believe this development, but was soon overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and support of the rest of the humans attached to the unit.

"After all, Will, believing in the Good is why most of us joined the military." Rob Epps clapped him on the back. "So what's the plan?"

"Head over to the storage depot, test Ratchet's body." Jazz piped in.

"Sounds good. We all going?"

"Well, no, probably not. But a human has to go." Perceptor said.

"Why?"

"Because, Rob, we all still have sparks." Perceptor explained, "We'll set off the detector and not be able to find any anomalies."

"OK, who's going?"

Of course, everyone wanted to go. Prowl finally intervened, saying "Wheeljack and Perceptor. Ironhide, of course, Lennox, Epps and Tanabe." Groans rose from the people not chosen. Ironhide directed Epps to grab his vehicle and pull it around to the front. Everyone split to grab a few items for the trip.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The trip to the storage depot was mostly quiet, the silence filled with unspoken expectations and non-verbalized tension. Two vehicles were necessary for the equipment and men going; Ironhide insisted on taking 'his' Humvee as one of the vehicles. Wheeljack rode beside Ironhide and looked over at him, slouching in the driver's seat with his eyes focused on the road ahead. "'Hide?"

"Hm?"

"What are you thinking?"

Ironhide pulled himself up into a better position. "Not much, 'Jack. I'm worried that this will all turn out to be a glitch in my processor."

"You're afraid to hope."

"Fuck, yeah."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The trip took most of the night; they arrived just as the sun was rising. They pulled up to the Quonset hut that hid the enormous elevators that would take them down to the storage area. The building looked mundane but was not at all ordinary. High tech locks, biometric readers, and hidden weapons made this particular site quite deadly to anyone not supposed to be here. Wheeljack and Perceptor as the leaders of this crew had made sure that everyone's particular biometric readings had been taken at a small building just inside the main gate and forwarded to the readers at this building.

"OK, people, listen up!" Lennox took command naturally. "The plan is that Perceptor will come down with the three humans, while 'Jack and 'Hide will stay here. Percy will come back up after he's shown us how to do the readings, and we'll make sure that there is no Cybertronian energy signatures down there. Let's move!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"What's taking so long?" Ironhide was pacing.

Wheeljack flapped a hand at him and answered, "Stop worrying about it. They really haven't been gone that long. It takes 20 minutes to get down, then Perceptor has to teach them to use the detector, then he needs to start up before they can take any readings. You need to calm down."

Ironhide glared at him, then huffed and went to take a nap in the front seat of the Humvee.

Perceptor joined them half an hour later, muttering to himself and making notations on the papers he carried in a clipboard. Wheeljack shook his head, laughing to himself. Perceptor must have thought of something new on the way up the elevator. He looked over at Ironhide, who was fast asleep and once again seemed at peace.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Will Lennox, Robert Epps, and Jack Tanabe were tired, yet strangely wound up. It felt, Will thought, like having a six pack of Mountain Dew when you'd gone for three days without sleep. He blinked, trying to force his eyes to focus as the elevator approached the top. The three men had spent hours down in the bunker, working around the strangely silent mech forms of their friends and co-workers, gathering the data necessary for Perceptor's calculations.

"I don't know, man, doesn't seem like we've learned anything down there." Epps was practical as always.

Will shook his head, "You just don't seem to get that negative data is still data, Rob. It means we know he's not down there."

"Yeah, but that leaves a lot of places where he could be." Epps responded.

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"So now what?" Ironhide asked once Perceptor had gone over the results and agreed that there didn't appear to be any Spark response.

"Now we start looking around here. After all, here is where it happened. If you gentlemen would be so kind?" Perceptor's request brought Lennox over.

"How about we take it in shifts? We're all getting tired, Epps, Tanabe, take a nap while I sweep the inside of the place, then Epps can sweep this hillside, " He pointed behind them were a long black scorch mark marred the earth, "and when he's done, Tanabe can sweep this area." Pivoting, he swept his arm out between the hut and the hillside. "All these areas should take 45 to 60 minutes, and we can all get in a rest period."

Without further ado, Epps and Tanabe rolled under the Humvee where it was shady and were asleep in less than a minute. Perceptor appeared fascinated with this presentation of human adaptability, but Wheeljack coaxed him away from the sleeping men to the other Humvee where Ironhide was leaning, trying to stay far enough away from Lennox. Wheeljack noticed that his audial antennas were out and he was listening intently. 'Jack and Percy sat down on the shady side of the vehicle and waited.

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"Nothing. Nothing in the hut, nothing on the hill, nothing in this field. We got nothing. Tanabe picked you guys up, but once you moved away, the signature dropped off. What next, oh great leader?" Epps summed the situation up nicely; Lennox growled at him. Perceptor seemed to droop at the news.

Wheeljack figured he'd better come up with a plan and allow Perceptor to rethink his plan. They had such high hopes…but hopes did not make things come true. He spoke up "Well, I think heading back is a bad idea since we're all tired. Sgt Epps was smart enough to pack us meals, and we want to stay here, so let us pull the vehicles into the hut and get some rest while we can. This afternoon we'll talk over our options and come up with Plan B." He turned to Lennox "Is that the correct terminology?"

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After three days, even Wheeljack had started to lose hope. After the initial sweep of the area, they had decided to do a more detailed sweep which had not given them any results. Then they had started to track animals. Wheeljack had thought it very funny when Epps had pointed out the hawks circling above them, riding the thermals and said that he wanted to get readings on the birds. Not impossible to do, but it had been difficult. Epps, however, was determined that if they were going to search for Ratchet, they were going to do a thorough job. He had proven to be quite a tracker, and they had readings on rabbits, coyotes, a family of foxes, birds of prey, songbirds, snakes, mice and even bugs, although Ironhide had objected to the last, saying that Ratchet would not put himself in a body that couldn't really think. Lennox had to step into that squabble to calm them down; everyone was getting discouraged by that point.

Lennox flopped into the shade of the vehicle. "OK, Perceptor, now what?"

"Well, I suppose we head back and rethink this idea." Perceptor was scribbling away on his clipboard again. "Next time, I need to remember my laptop…" His voice trailed off as he became absorbed in his notations.

"I'm not happy about leaving." Ironhide stated. "It just feels like Ratchet's here."

Wheeljack perked up at that. "Really? Can you be more specific, or is it just a general feeling?"

'Hide looked at him. "Um…just a general feeling, I guess. There's no specific place that sets off the feeling."

'Jack sighed. "Then I do think we should head back and do some more research, maybe work more closely with you, Ironhide, and try to, ah, get a handle on this situation." Lennox managed a wry smile. Wheeljack was trying his best to slip in human idioms, and he always managed to telegraph when he was going to say one. It had become a running joke, one that Wheeljack seemed to enjoy too.

"Alright, people, let's wrap it up and get going." Lennox started putting equipment in the back of a vehicle. "Tanabe, sweep the hut, make sure we got everything. Epps, pack that detector up and then help me load up the other equipment."

"You got it." Epps moved to the back of the vehicle where the case for the detector was lying.

"'Hide?" Epps called.

"Yeah?" Ironhide moved to the back of the vehicle where Epps was standing.

"Where'd you get this vehicle?" Epps asked.

"Don't know. It's just around, y'know, from the pool or whatever. I like it because it's really comfortable." Ironhide looked at him askance.

"Comfortable? Like, it fits you?"

"Rob? What are you saying?" Lennox had picked up on the oddness of Epp's queries.

"I put this detector in the back, and so help me, Will, it starts registering off the scale."

"What?!"

A rush of bodies to the door, and everyone surrounded the non-descript Army issue Humvee. After some minutes of fussing around, Perceptor and Wheeljack shooed everyone away from the vehicle. Lennox turned on the detector again, walking around the Humvee and yelling out readings to Jack and Percy, who got more excited as Will approached the front of the vehicle. They high-fived each other.

Tanabe turned to Epps and asked. "But what does it mean?"

"It means we found Ratchet."


	5. Tranquility

Title: Tranquility

Series: River of Change

By: mmouse15

Pairing: IronhidexRatchet

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: mech sex, cursing

Beta'd by the incomparable VAWitch. She's amazing!

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A hand, stroking gently along seams. Captured by another hand.  
"You are supposed to be recharging."

"So are you. You've just been through an ordeal."

"And you haven't?"

"No, I only thought you were dead; I wasn't struggling to find myself in a non-sentient machine."

"Hm. And trying to survive your bonded's erstwhile death isn't an ordeal?"

"Not on the order of trying to wrestle your stubborn spark into a proper chamber."

"Is it my fault Earth's machines are still so primitive?"

"No." Further questions were cut off as the black hand glided across his bonded's frame, seeking sensitive nodes to caress and fritzing his companion's processor.

"Stop that. I know that our CMO would not approve of this kind of activity."

"Bullshit." A kiss, then the large black mech dug into his partner's frame with true intent. He caressed the other's face with his fingertips, sliding along the planes of his beloved's features. Such a noble face, careworn and showing the weight of vorns of fighting. Air escaped the green mech as his bonded moved from his face to his neck, thumb and fingers brushing along cables and seams of armor. With a sub-vocal growl, the green mech moved his hands to his partner's frame. He slid his hands up the black mech's arms to his shoulders, then over his chest. Air vented out from them, heating their quarters. Cooling fans kicked on, both frames starting to heat. Green hands delved into sensitive hip joints, while black hands moved along the bumper and grill that composed his bonded's chest.

As one, the two mechs aligned their chests and armor split apart, revealing their Sparks. The two glowing balls of energy merged.

Images flashed. The pain of death, the frustration of being trapped, the joy of discovering that he wasn't dead, the pain of capturing a spark to implant it into its proper form, the soul deep joy of being reunited. As the two shared their most recent memories, feelings were soothed. Then the real sharing began.

Love. Deep, abiding, profound. Joy. Love returned, shared, togetherness. Promises. Forever, never to part again.

Ironhide drew back with a growl, then slammed back into Ratchet. Their shared overload, which had been dying down, instead roared back. Ratchet threw back his head and howled as their Sparks merged impossibly further. Ironhide drew on memories of the time in human form, finding new areas of sensitivity. Ratchet mewled as 'Hide slid a hand across his pelvic plates and bucked up into the touch.

In self-defense, their Sparks retreated, although neither closed their chambers. Ratchet growled at Ironhide, then in a surprise maneuver, flipped their positions so he was on top.

"I'll show you tricks." He probed into Ironhide's arms, manipulating their electric fields. Ironhide expelled air as the electric fields moved through his arms, giving him the same feelings he got from firing his cannons. Ratchet continued his ministrations and leaning on Ironhide, moved one knee between Ironhide's legs. Ironhide nearly bucked him off as Ratchet did SOMETHING against his pelvic plates.

"Ah! Ratchet!"

"How's that feel, 'Hide?" Ratchet's voice had deepened, and Ironhide arched beneath him, excited by the tone of his bonded's voice. "Do you want more?"

"Primus, yes!"

"No need to curse. I'll give it to you…eventually." Ratchet chuckled in his audios. Ironhide groaned, then moved his hands to Ratchet's sides. He couldn't move them further due to the placement of Ratchet's hands in his arms. He slid his hands into the folds and seams of Ratchet's armor and discovered, to his great delight, that due to their Spark chambers still being exposed, Ratchet had many more sensitive areas open to his exploration. Ratchet gasped, then moved his hands so he could crawl up Ironhide's frame. He moved so they could touch foreheads and once again, merge Sparks. They continued to caress each other, their overloads coming over them like waves as they delved deep into each other's psyches.

As the waves ebbed, Ratchet murmured "Always," then slid sideways. Ironhide eased him down, deftly touching his chest to close and cover his Spark. Ratchet slid from overload to recharge. Ironhide pressed a kiss to the glyph that signified Ratchet's designation, then curled up next to him.

"Always and forever, Ratchet."


End file.
